George Balanchine, a ballet master and choreographer lived from 1904 to 1983. Choreographer George Balanchine was also a noted pianist, actor, and conductor. George Balanchine compositions numbering over 400 include 'La Nuit', 'Romanza Waltz', 'Pizzicato Polka', 'Caesar and Cleopatra', 'Jack in the Box', 'Swan Lake', 'Serenade', 'Orpheus and Eurydice', and 'The Seven Deadly Sins'.
George Balanchine not only achieved fame in Russia, but was universally accepted and revered in the USA.
George Balanchine Early Life
George Balanchine of Saint Petersburg was born as Georgi Melitonovich Balanchivadze on 22nd January, 1904 to his father Meliton Balanchivadze, a reputed composer. Georgi started taking piano lessons from his father after reaching 5 years. When he was 9 years of age, Balanchine was admitted to Saint Petersburg Imperial Ballet School.
In 1914 George Balanchine performed for the first time on stage as Cupid in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 's Sleeping Beauty. George graduated as a classical ballet dancer from this Saint Petersburg school in 1921. He also took lessons in piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory during the same time. Between 1921 and 1924 Balanchine joined Saint Petersburg State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet as a dancer.
Ballet Dancer George Balanchine
In 1924 George Balanchine was employed by Sergei
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Diaghilev as a dancer for his 'Russian Ballet'. Subsequently he became the choreographer of the troupe when Diaghilev was affected by a knee injury. This changed the course of events in George Balanchine's career. As a choreographer he composed nine ballets till 1929 which included Igor Stravinsky's 'Apollon Musagete' and 'Le Chant du Rossignol', and Maurice Ravel's 'L'Enfant et les Sortileges'.
From 1930 to 1933 Balanchine stayed in Monte Carlo and choreographed ballets for 'Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo'. During his stay in Monte Carlo, George Balanchine interacted closely with Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht.
Choreographer George Balanchine, thereafter, was invited to New York in the end of 1933 and set up the School of American Ballet together with Lincoln Kirsten in 1934. In the following year in New York, composer George Balanchine and Kirsten established The American Ballet, the first professional ballet company in USA. These two gentlemen also formed the Ballet Society in 1946, and renamed it as 'New York City Ballet' in 1948. The New York City Ballet is now housed in the New York State Theater Building in Lincoln Center.
While in USA, ballet master George Balanchine created The Four Temperaments', 'Orpheus', 'Serenade', Ballet Imperial', 'The Nutcracker', 'Western Symphony', 'Don Quixote', 'Union Jack', and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.
George Balanchine, a legendary ballet master, composer, and choreographer, breathed his last on 30th April, 1983 in New York City.
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